Leader

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Book Review: Cut Like Wound

Isn't it textbook for a police officer to solve a case when he is suspended? Isn't it true that children end up doing what you tell them not to do? Isn't it funny that you have all the films of a police officer who is rogue, cares little about the rules, ignores his superiors and has a devoted family or has a problem at home? Isn't it text book to have a villain who is mysterious, powerful and cunning that you cannot find out who he is when he is standing right next to you? Well, take all these regular recipes and try to cook something new or you have an option to create a similar recipe but make it into a pleasing familiar dish that takes you to a nice place.

Anita Nair is a wonderful writer. In fact, hers would be one of my first choices for a weekend with a book, coffee and chips. I love the way she can bring out words and play with emotions easily out of the unknown. Her understanding of the human psyche, especially women psyche, is beautiful. Here in "Cut Like Wound" she comes out with a familiar story without delving in to what she can actually do. "Introducing Borei Gowda" comes as an early warning and sets out the course clear in this story. May be I should have known...

Anita Nair’s Inspector Borei Gowda, “soft in the middle, blurred at the edges” who knocks back shots of Old Monk, lovingly tends to his Bullet, and is blessed with superior deduction skills, that superpower of every hero detective from Poirot to Dalgliesh, is an anomaly in the Bengaluru police force and therefore a perfect protagonist. Borei Gowda is a middle aged father, husband who fails on both parts, at least on what he feels she should be doing for them and is a old football-you-bought-and-used-for-a week in the police department. Known for his keen ability to excel and propel himself into the strongest and unclear situations and is ruthless Dabang attitude, Borei forms what you look for in a middle aged hero contemplating a divorce while wooing his high school sweetheart who is rich but conveniently divorced.

The plot is simple and tight. First a dead body appears of out no where. And sometime later another. Soon there are bodies every Friday night. All of them seem to be linked but there is no common link. Only Borei seems to have a link established between them and chases the ghosts of his own imagination while fighting with the system , authority, drug dealers, a powerful corporator, and himself. I like the way he personifies his bike and draws immense pleasure from simple situations that usually are the solace of a tired lonely soul. Nair's characterization runs with Borei and captures him in many angles and she has done a wonderful job of keeping the story simply attractive and with in a short span of 38 days. The rest of the story is about how Borei and his team finds out the mysterious murders and brings them to justice.

What Anita has managed to do in the book is to explain the realities of the shady areas in any town and how people are so madly driven by the experiences they have in their childhood and every day. "Cut Like Wound" also tries to look at the changing phenomena of the acceptance of transgenders and the reality. I am thrilled with the way she explains the streets of the city in Shivaji Nagar which can be in your city as well and places where you cannot go or are usually advised to keep out. Cut Like Wound takes you there and beyond while keeping the hair on your neck raised, every moment of the way. There is more to come in the next adventure of Borei...